The company carry out highway maintenance services including road repairs, street cleaning and winter gritting on around 17,565 kilometers of roads, often in remote areas and signal blackspots. Conditions can be dangerous especially in the winter when gritters brave the freezing weather to keep the roads free of snow and ice.

It’s not just the winter months that can prove testing, as all year-round workers are at risk of being subjected to verbal and sometimes even physical abuse from members of the public.

After investigating various methods to protect their workforce, Ringway opted for 450 of Skyguard’s MySOS devices following a successful trial period.

During their trial Skyguard came to the rescue when a Ringway worker required medical attention. The employee called for help by pressing the SOS button on his MySOS and asking for assistance. An ambulance was on site to deal with the situation in just 7 minutes, as the Controllers were able to call upon priority emergency response – faster than dialing 999.

Since this occurrence, another incident took place when a maintenance gritter tipped over after driving through a patch of black ice. The driver used his MySOS and the Controllers were able to communicate through the device providing reassurance until the arrival of the emergency services. Luckily, he was not seriously injured.

Ringway were impressed by the ‘excellent’ response they received from Skyguard during both incidents, particularly the benefit of being able to speak to an actual person in times of crisis.

Skyguard has a specialist team of highly trained Controllers, experienced in dealing with emergency situations. The team operate from a secure Incident Management Centre and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – so they are always there, ready to help as and when they are needed.

After seeing in practice just how important these devices are as a lone worker safety measure, Ringway are now planning to roll out more devices to staff over the coming months, ensuring that the personal safety of their employees remains high on their agenda.

To find out about other organisations that work with Skyguard why not take a look at our case studies?